Back in January, we reported that Israel made the groundbreaking decision to approve the export of medical Cannabis. Now, analysts are predicting that the industry could see unprecedented revenue within a decade.

Ayelet Shaked, Justice Minister of Israel, made a statement back in January about the Israeli government’s decision to legalize the export of cannabis: “I am glad this is finally happening. It opens a huge market in Israel. The technology is here in Israel, and until now we simply had to give the technology to other countries. Therefore, I am glad we can reap the profits here in Israel.”

The Israeli cannabis industry was estimated to be worth around $11 billion back in 2015, but it has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Obviously, all exports require full approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health and can only be shipped to countries where cannabis is legal. That means that fully legal countries like Uruguay, Holland, Canada, and countries with medical cannabis provisions are potential destinations for legal Israeli exports.

As Sara Gluck, president of the America Israel Cannabis Association said, according to a report in Newsweek, “Canada, with its new regulated market is not in a position to export cannabis due to in-country demand and shortages. The biggest obstacle will be countries allowing for these imports. There are over 30 countries that have medical cannabis programs, and these are all potential importers of Israeli cannabis.”

The Israeli cannabis market has been growing rapidly for years

The Jerusalem Post reported recently that Israeli cannabis exports are projected to hit $1 billion in tax revenues, with that market ballooning to a potential $60 billion within ten years as previously mentioned. It was also reported that the official Israeli stance on legal cannabis exports was tied into the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Due to his tough stance on cannabis, Israel felt it would be best to wait until Mr. Sessions had moved on, and when that happened, they acted fast. Israel already has an existing medical cannabis program for a few thousand patients with licenses, but it is heavily regulated and cumbersome for the most part. Only eight Israeli companies are allowed to grow medical cannabis, while hundreds of applications for cultivation are in the pipeline.

While the new steps make cannabis export from Israel legal, cannabis is still illegal in the Jewish State. According to Gluck, there’s a vast movement to legalize cannabis in Israel, and apparently, 71 percent of Israelis want it legal. One cannabis advocate in Israel – an attorney named Reut Alfiah, who heads up the dedicated cannabis department at the law firm ZAG – S&W, said according to a Globes report: “The government’s decision marks a special day for the cannabis industry in Israel.”

“It constitutes a historic step towards opening up the gates for exporting. Israel already possesses the infrastructure and know-how in the medical cannabis R&D and growing sectors,” she continued. “However, the previously existing regulatory barrier prevented Israel’s ability to maximize its incredible potential in the space.”

Speaking recreationally, cannabis is illegal in Israel but was decriminalized to an extent recently. We reported a few weeks ago that as of April 1, 2019, personal possession of cannabis would no longer be subject to criminal proceedings and would be punishable by a civil fine. However, cultivating and selling cannabis is highly illegal in Israel and carries some long prison sentences for those getting caught.

Despite that, Israel is all set to become one of the world’s biggest medical cannabis exporters with an eye towards a very bright and lucrative future.

IDT Australia Limited’s (ASX:IDT) securing of a medicinal cannabis manufacturing licence is also good news for another Australian cannabusiness.

IDT announced on Monday Australia’s Office of Drug Control granted it the licence under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. The licence will allow the company to manufacture of extracts and tinctures of cannabis and cannabis resin, and engage in other related activities including supply, packaging, transport, storage and possession.

“With IDT’s long established facilities and expertise in GMP pharmaceutical manufacturing, a licence in our own right to manufacture Medicinal Cannabis products puts IDT in a very strong position in the exciting and rapidly growing global medicinal cannabis market,” said a very pleased IDT Chief Executive Officer Dr David Sparling.

Also pleased will be another company – Cann Group Limited (ASX:CAN). IDT entered into a manufacturing agreement with Cann Group in August last year. IDT is to provide Cann Group with manufacturing support for medicinal cannabis‐based product formulations for supply to patients in Australia and abroad.

IDT has been in the pharmaceutical game for more than 40 years. It offers manufacture of API and finished dose products, microbiological and analytical testing, clinical packaging, and pharmacy services. Its clients include some of the biggest names in pharmaceuticals including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Roche. The company was the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2017 Medtech & Pharmaceuticals winner.

While not shy about its achievements or goals, IDT’s interest in the medical cannabis sector has been kept relatively quiet apart from this recent announcement and the one last year concerning Cann Group.

Last week, THC Global announced it had been granted a licence to export medical cannabis and earlier in the month, LeafCann Group Pty Ltd said it had secured a medical cannabis manufacturing licence.

The ODC is part of the Health Products Regulation Group of Australia’s Department of Health. It regulates and provides advice on the import, export and manufacture of controlled drugs, as well as the cultivation of medical cannabis.

The Spanish company, Hemp Trading, specialised in the international distribution of products for cannabis growth, has developed the first cannabis strain THC free with high medicinal potential.

Hemp Trading, together with the Spanish University Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (UPV), have developed the first cannabis strain THC free with high medicinal potential. The new strain, the only one in the cannabis market, is totally legal as it is free of psychoactive components and stands out for its big therapeutic potential in the treatment of illness as Crohn’s disease, colon cancer, glaucoma, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, among others.

Achieving a THC free strain

According to Hemp Trading’s CEO, Ernesto Llosá, the achievement has been to develop a strain that blocks some steps of biosynthetic route of cannabinoids, avoiding the formation of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the illegal and psychoactive component, increasing the stack of cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinoid with high medicinal potential and since now it was a residual amount.

CBG is the first cannabinoid which is formed in the cannabis plant. Therefore, it’s considered like “the mother’s cell of cannabis because it is essential to create THC and cannabidiol (CBD), which both are two of cannabinoids with a greater presence. As the plant grows in the biosynthetic process, CBG is transformed into THC, CBD and other minority cannabinoids. As a result, CBG disappears” explains, Salvador Soler, researcher of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).

License for the cultivation of cannabis for scientific purposes

Thanks to the research work of UPV, one of the only five entities in Spain that have a license for the cultivation of cannabis for scientific purposes, not only THC has been eliminated, but the concentration of CBG has been increased.

“Thanks to this development we get the plant completely legal and with CBG levels over 15%, when the normal quantity is 0,1-0,5%” Llosá explained. “Until now the CBG present in the cannabis varieties was in a minor quantity because it was mainly transformed into other cannabinoids.”

Cannabis growth: the world of CBG

CBG is the great unknown in the cannabis plant precisely because it is found in small quantities and there is hardly room for further research for medicinal use, as has been done with THC or CBD. “But thanks to this development, CBG can be obtained massively, opening the door to large-scale production in a legal manner, as well as doing more research to evaluate its medicinal properties,” Llosá adds.

In addition, the CBG extraction process requires less purification than CBD, the other non-psychoactive medicinal component of cannabis that is now booming. As Llosá explained, “plants with CBD contain a fraction of THC that has to be separated and rejected in the purification process. In our case, the CBG comes out pure without the presence of other cannabinoids, that is, we make sure that it is free of THC. Therefore, it guarantees the absence of a psychoactive component.”

At the moment, the company is registering the new strain and has not yet defined its marketing process, but this plant is an incentive for the cannabis sector and is a great attraction for pharmacists interested in making use of the medicinal properties of cannabis legally, as well as for industrial use.

Medicinal properties of cannabigerol

Generally, the medicinal properties of CBG are similar to those of CBD. Several scientific studies such as that published by the British Journal of Pharmacology (Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects) indicate that CBG reduces pain, reduces the inflammation that produces some diseases such as Crohn’s disease, is a great inducer of sleep and has antidepressant properties.

On the other hand, CBG inhibits the growth of cancer cells, helping to slow the progression of colon cancer. In addition, CBG could be a powerful partner for the treatment of glaucoma, since it reduces intraocular pressure.

The legalization of medical marijuana in 33 U.S. states has paved the way to the growing popularity of cannabis and the products derived from it, such as cannabidiol. Also known as CBD, this cannabis-derived substance has received praises by researchers and doctors for its growing list of health and wellness benefits. Because of CBD’s increasing popularity, industry analysts predict it’s on its way to becoming a $22-billion market by 2022.

But even though CBD receives high praises for its incredible medical properties, users must still take note of its side effects. Like any substance used as a medicine, cannabidiol can cause harm to users, especially those who use it without the prescription and supervision of a doctor.

CBD: The Safe Cannabinoid

Experts attribute the increasing use of CBD to its safety. Unlike THC and other cannabinoid or compounds derived from cannabis, taking cannabidiol does not have adverse effects on a person’s mental and emotional condition. It does not create an intoxicating feeling (commonly called a «high»).

After various studies, the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017 finally recognized that cannabidiol, in its pure form, has no potential for abuse nor can it cause harm to a person’s health.

Later, officials at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) acknowledged the safety of CBD. As a result, it changed the classification of the substance from Schedule 1 (highest potential for abuse) to Schedule 5 (least potential for abuse). This decision came out even as the agency maintains that cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug.

Cannabidiol’s Medical Wonders

CBD rose from obscurity to become one of the most sought-after substances in the medical world because of its various healing properties. Researchers from all over the globe have discovered benefits for patients of life-threatening diseases to those who simply want a supplement to improve their health.

Promotes and maintains brain health and makes the brain resilient to trauma and degeneration

Protects against bone diseases and fractures

Protects and treats the skin

Contributes to pain relief and inflammation

Relieves anxiety and stress

Helps in treating depression and mood disorders

Promotes quality sleep

Helps to treat substance abuse

Some studies also found that is CBD useful in controlling appetite for people who want to lose weight.

CBD’s Potential Side Effects

While considered safe, cannabidiol users may still experience adverse impact. Many studies, including those published in the Current Drug Safety journal and by the WHO showing that CBD has no adverse effects on a person’s heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, gastrointestinal tract, food intake, and other bodily functions even in large doses. Still, doctors warn that the misuse and abuse of this cannabinoid can lead to side effects.

Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers – Exposure of pregnant women and nursing mothers to any marijuana-derived substance, including CBD, can cause harm to the development of their baby, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics report.

Other studies found that even brief exposure to CBD may result in a more permeable placental barrier, which makes the fetus susceptible to foreign compounds.

Patients with Movement Disorders – Patients with dystonic movement disorders who use CBD can experience side effects. A daily 100–600mg oral dosage of cannabidiol resulted in low blood pressure, dry mouth, reduction in psychomotor activities, light-headedness, and sedation, according to a 2009 study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience. Patients who take more than 300mg of CBD oil daily can increase the incidence of hypokinesia and resting tremor.

People taking some forms of prescription medicine – Combining CBD with some prescription medications can lead to damaging effects inside the body. Cannabidiol can alter the results of some prescribed medication as it interacts with the receptors throughout the body and by suppressing the activity of cytochrome P450, a group of liver enzymes whose primary function is to break down drugs and toxins entering the body. Since CBD can inhibit the activity of this enzyme group, it can temporarily deactivate it, which can impact how other substances are metabolized in the body.

May Contain THC – Some CBD brands contain more than the safe percentage of THC, the cannabinoid with intoxicating properties. Taking these products may affect the concentration, mood, and memory, especially of people with high sensitivity to THC.

While cannabidiol is recognized as safe by WHO and other leading medical organizations, users can still experience harmful side effects. To ensure safety in taking any of CBD products, patients should consult their doctor first before taking them.

Important achievements from across our portfolio of companies helped drive record revenue and continued success in the opening months of 2019.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. and our portfolio of companies and investments continued our upward trend in the first fiscal quarter of 2019, tallying record revenue from January to March. Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s Q1 2019 revenue exceeded $20.2 million, an increase of more than 92% over Q1 2018. Net Ordinary Income for the period exceeded $1.5 million, our best result in ordinary income in company history.

“In Q1 2019 we had the best revenue quarter in the history of our Company,” said Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Dr. Stuart Titus. “We are humbled to see the immense growth our company has experienced as the world continues to open up to the benefits of hemp-derived CBD.”

FIRST QUARTER 2019 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Gross Revenue:

Q1 2018 – $10.5 million

Q1 2019 – $20.2 million

Gross Profit:

Q1 2018 – $3.3 million

Q1 2019 – $15.8 million

Net Ordinary Income:

Q1 2019 – $1.5 million

“As Medical Marijuana, Inc. once again experiences its best quarter ever, it showcases the increasing demand for premium hemp CBD across the globe,” said Medical Marijuana, Inc. COO Blake Schroeder. “We are proud to continue finding innovative ways to provide consumers with a wide variety of high-quality hemp CBD products.”

Medical Marijuana, Inc. celebrated a number of significant achievements in the first three months of 2019, driving record revenue and helping further CBD acceptance and access to CBD products around the world.

Keep reading for our biggest highlights from our first three months of 2019.

10 Year Anniversary

In March, Medical Marijuana, Inc. our tenth anniversary as a company. During this time of celebration, we looked back on our first ten years, including the many innovations that have made us A Company of Firsts®, including becoming the first publicly traded cannabis company in the US, the introduction of the first CBD hemp oil consumer products, the creation of the strictest quality control measures in the industry, our spearheading of CBD access for patients in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, and Argentina, and advocating for CBD on an international level at the World Health Organization.

During our 10 year anniversary celebration, we also thanked those CBD families whose sacrifices have made an impact on our family of companies over the past ten years. By giving us a purpose each day, these families help drive our mission to expand access to safe, reliable CBD products to patients and consumers around the world.

The cannabis industry has changed immensely over the past 10 years. Medical Marijuana, Inc. is excited to be part of this rapidly developing industry and our role as a leader in the CBD market.

Our CBD Products First Listed in Prescribers’ Digital Reference

To achieve our mission of expanded access to cannabinoid products, Medical Marijuana, Inc. works for a greater understanding among consumers, lawmakers, and the medical community regarding the difference quality CBD products can make in the lives of those who use them.

In February, we announced that HempMeds® Real Scientific Hemp Oil (RSHO) Gold Label and Kannaway® Pure Gold hemp-derived CBD products had become the first two hemp-derived CBD dietary supplements to be listed in the Prescribers’ Digital Reference® (also known as Physicians’ Desk Reference or PDR).

The Prescribers’ Digital Reference delivers comprehensive and innovative knowledge on the health industry’s products and services to support the prescribing decisions of health professionals. This inclusion of Medical Marijuana, Inc. CBD products in the PDR is an important milestone for CBD as it gains acceptance by the medical community as a health and wellness compound. You can find the entries in the PDR for our CBD products here.

Our Hemp Products Certified for Outstanding Quality

Since our beginning, Medical Marijuana, Inc. and our subsidiaries have focused on creating only top quality products, holding them to our strict manufacturing and safety standards. In the first quarter of 2019, our quality standards were recognized by the U.S. hemp industry’s first certifying body.

The U.S. Hemp Authority has awarded companies and brands in our portfolio with their Certification Seal, once again confirming the high quality of our line of hemp and CBD products. In total, the organization presented 13 of their Certification Seals to hemp and CBD businesses in this first round of approvals, including to Kannaway, HempMeds®, and Dixie Botanicals® products.

The U.S. Hemp Authority Certification Program is administered by experienced quality assurance and verification professionals from industry-leading food and agricultural companies. To receive organization’s seal, companies must have met several stringent industry standards laid out for quality and safety. This is the first ever quality certification program for CBD products, and its creation ushers in a new era of product transparency in CBD products.

New Products

To stay competitive in the CBD market and to ensure our customers have CBD products to fit their needs, Medical Marijuana, Inc. and our subsidiary companies are always working to expand the reach of our brands by introducing new hemp and CBD products to the market.

HempMeds® also launched its new Personal Care line of products at the Natural Products Expo West event in March. The new HempMeds® product line is comprised of four bath products expertly formulated with botanical extracts like jojoba, goji berry, peppermint, and licorice root and our nourishing hemp oil extract. The company’s Personal Care Line features shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and body lotion for a complete CBD bath experience.

You can find the HempMeds® Personal Care line and other great CBD topicals here.

International CBD Events

Medical Marijuana, Inc. subsidiary HempMeds® Brasil hosted a number of educational events for doctors in the country with the aim of giving them the information they need to confidently prescribe CBD for their patients, including how CBD interacts with the body, different treatment options using CBD, and how CBD can benefit their patients. This included events in Q1 at the company’s headquarters in São Paulo and in the city of Salvador, Bahia.

Also in Q1, our subsidiary Kannaway held its Hemp for Humanity event in Vienna, Austria. The event was hosted with the intention of promoting hemp and CBD products like those from Kannaway to consumers in the European Union. At the event, CBD advocates, Kannaway executive, and the company’s top performing Brand Ambassadors spoke on a range of topics from the benefits of hemp for the planet, to the promising effects of CBD, to ways that citizens in the EU can enter the hemp and CBD market in Europe for themselves.

Events like these from HempMeds® Brasil and Kannaway are critical in educating people around the world on how CBD can make an impact on their lives and the lives of those they care about.

New Distribution Partnerships

In early February, HempMeds® partnered with Mr. Checkout to distribute their line of CBD products to consumers through its network of thousands of national and independent retailers, including natural grocery and health stores, vitamin retail outlets and pharmacies.

Established in 1989, Mr. Checkout is a national group of independent direct store delivery distributors, full-line grocery distributors and wagon-jobbers, representing products at over 60 major retailers.

HempMeds® also secured a partnership with 39 other retailers in the first quarter of 2019 to sell its line of CBD products, including major retailer Shopaholic Boutique, Inc. These increased distribution channels will put Medical Marijuana, Inc. products in front of more customers than ever before.

Stay in the Know

Be sure to follow our company news feed to all the latest from across the Medical Marijuana, Inc. family of companies.

Earlier this week the NFL and the NFL Players Association announced they would be implementing two new medical committees—one of which will explore the use of cannabis to help players manage pain, writes Calvin Hughes.

«I think it’s a proud day for the NFL and the NFLPA to come together on these issues in a very public way,» the NFL’s chief medical officer Allen Stills told The Washington Post. «I think it demonstrates the spirit of cooperation we have around our health and safety issues.»

The new committee is expected to bring their research as soon as possible, and cannabis will continue to be banned by the NFL for the time being.

The announcement comes as a growing number of former NFL stars and physicians have begun pressuring the league to change their drug policies. As it is right now, players are most often prescribed dangerous opioid medications for chronic pain symptoms, and many players have argued medical marijuana would be a much safer alternative. The NFLPA previously filed a grievance accusing the league of endangering players’ health by recklessly prescribing opioids.

In light of the NFL’s opioid problem, Sills said the league will also begin a prescription monitoring program.

The new plan to study the use of medical marijuana as a pain treatment tool does not come with a commitment of future policy change for the league, however. The drug will continue to be banned even for medical use unless the league and players’ association can broker a deal on reforming the policy.

Reforming the league’s cannabis policies is expected to be a key issue when the NFLPA goes to renegotiate their collective bargaining agreement next year. Any positive results from the new study are likely to help bolster the argument for a less punitive cannabis policy.

Qualified patients now have limited access to medical cannabis products, after the state’s first licensed dispensaries began making sales this week. Voters initially approved medical cannabis access by passing a statewide initiative in November 2016.

Under the law, qualified patients may obtain both herbal preparations of cannabis and infused cannabis products from state-licensed dispensaries. Products must be derived from plants harvested by one of five state-licensed cultivators. To date, only one cultivator is operational. Two additional cultivators are expecting to harvest their initial crops this summer.

Nearly 12,000 patients are licensed in the state to participate in the medical cannabis access program.

Arkansas is one of 33 states that legally permits medical cannabis access.

Coming off of a heroin addiction is notoriously difficult. But a new study suggests CBD can make it much easier. According to a study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, cannabidiol (CBD) can significantly reduce cravings in people addicted to opioids and manage withdrawal symptoms. Cravings and abstinence anxiety are two of the most critical features of addiction, and triggering them often contributes to relapses and continued drug use.

Exploratory Study Highlights How CBD Can Help Beat Addiction

The consequences of the United State’s ongoing opioid epidemic have been staggering. Yet there has so far been little effort to develop treatment options for opioid addiction that are themselves not opioid-based—e.g. buprenorphine and methadone. Some states have tried to address this problem by adding opioid replacement qualifications to their medical cannabis programs.

In New York, for example, patients are automatically eligible for medical cannabis if a doctor prescribes opioids as a treatment for their condition. And multiple studies attest to the anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing properties of THC and CBD.

But cannabis may not only be a safer alternative to opioid painkillers; it may also be the safer, more effective way to ween people off of their addiction to opioids.

Participants in the study received Epidiolex, the first FDA-approved cannabis-based medication, to dose 400 mg or 800 mg of CBD once daily for three consecutive days. Researchers then exposed the participants to drug-cues designed to stimulate physiological responses to addiction. Then, they measured the results at different stages after participants dosed with CBD.

What researchers found was that “acute CBD administration, in contrast to placebo, significantly reduced both craving and anxiety induced by the presentation of salient drug cues compared with neutral cues.”

But they also found that those results lasted. “CBD showed significant protracted effects on these measures 7 days after the final CBD exposure,” researchers wrote in the study’s results. In other words, CBD worked, and kept working, to reduce opioid cravings in people with addiction. And it did so without any adverse or negative side effects, researchers say. “There were no significant effects on cognition, and there were no serious adverse effects.”

Comparing the 400 mg and 800 mg groups to the placebo group, CBD even reduced the amount of cortisol, the “stress hormone,” in people recovering from heroin addiction.

As a result, researchers concluded that “CBD’s potential to reduce cue-induced craving and anxiety provides a strong basis for further investigation of the phytocannabinoid as a treatment option for opioid use disorder.”

With barriers to cultivating and researching cannabidiol finally falling across the country, that research should be just around the corner. And for now, this important study into CBD’s effectiveness against opioid addiction adds to the growing pile of research supporting the myriad health wellness, and indeed life-saving benefits of CBD.

Dr. Stuart Titus to be one of 65 cannabis experts to speak on cannabis and CBD at special public hearing to determine how to regulate products containing cannabis and its derivatives.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration will be holding a public hearing to gather opinions on legalizing CBD from cannabis experts and advocates later this month. The FDA will consider these opinions as the agency creates its framework to regulate the marketing of cannabis and cannabis-derived products, including the use of CBD in dietary supplements and foods.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Dr. Stuart Titus has been invited to speak during this public hearing to share his extensive expertise he has gathered from his years in the medical cannabis and CBD spaces.

Under Dr. Titus’s tenure as CEO and president of Medical Marijuana, Inc., our portfolio of companies have created dozens of new consumer CBD products aimed at general wellness, expanded access to CBD to patients and consumers in over 40 countries, with a focus on North America, Latin America and Europe. We have also pursued new drug status for products aimed at opioid addiction, the nausea and vomiting linked to chemotherapy and AIDS, and drug-induced psychosis.

Dr. Titus earned his PhD from Open International University, an educational organization affiliated with the World Health Organization, and practiced as a physiologist for over fifteen years. He holds a Fellowship with the American Academy of Pain Management and clinical association with the American Association of Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Titus will be one of 65 speakers chosen from a pool of nearly 400 candidates. In his role with our company, Dr. Titus speaks at dozens of events every year around the world, discussing the history, physical effects, potential pharmacology, research, and case studies linked to cannabis and hemp-derived CBD in particular.

“I’m honored to be given this opportunity to speak on a national stage about why cannabidiol (CBD) is near to my heart and why everyone in the United States should have access to it,” said Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Dr. Stuart Titus. “We look forward to the FDA creating clear guidelines for the sale and production of CBD as we hope many of our competitors and business partners will be held to the highest-standards of quality and consistency like those that we ensure our customers with every product that we sell.”

Medical Marijuana, Inc. became the first company to create and distribute CBD hemp oil products in 2012 when we launched the first of our CBD consumer products. Since then, we have become consumers’ first choice in CBD products for their entire family, including their pets. This is largely due to our dedication to producing only the highest quality products, which has led us to create the strictest safety and quality standards in the CBD industry.

The FDA is holding this public hearing as a response to the growing popularity of cannabis products, including those containing cannabidiol (CBD). The agency acknowledges interest in cannabis products from both consumers and manufacturers, creating a need for a clear regulatory framework. These include products marketed as human drugs, dietary supplements, conventional foods, animal foods and drugs, cosmetics, bath and beauty products, and much more.

The FDA hearing will also seek to add clarity to the agency’s position on hemp-derived CBD following the legalization of the domestic hemp industry following the 2018 Farm Bill. The omnibus law fully legalized the hemp industry in the U.S. by removing hemp completely from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and giving states the power to regulate domestic hemp cultivation.

With hemp-derived CBD removed from the CSA, the task of regulating products made with CBD falls on the FDA, who up until this point have only sporadically mailed warning letters to CBD companies who explicitly made medical claims about the effects of CBD in their marketing.

This public hearing will be critical for CBD advocates, the CBD industry, and our consumers to give the FDA the information necessary to create regulated access to safe, high quality CBD products.

The public hearing will be held on May 31, 2019, from 8 am to 6 pm. Dr. Titus will give his oral comments between 8:00 am and 10:30 am. The FDA will webcast this public hearing. Click here to view the hearing via webcast.

Want your voice to be heard? You can send your comments on CBD and how it should be regulated to the FDA until July 2, 2019. Get started here.

You can learn more about CBD, the 2018 Farm Bill, and what these changes mean for you here, or visit our news feed for all the latest developments from across our family of hemp and CBD companies.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has said it will issue 60 licenses for cultivators.

Authors of the report state that an overproduction of medical marijuana in the state could provide more incentive for the drug to be diverted to the (illegal) recreational market.

Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association told St. Louis Public Radio that the report is flawed because it uses old data from other states. The group believes that the actual number of Missourians qualified to purchase medical marijuana in 2020 could be five times what the economists are predicting.